Robin Ann Dalton AM ( Eakin; 22 December 1920 – 8 July 2022) was an Australian

literary agent A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers, film producers, and film studios, and assists in sale and deal negotiation. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwr ...

, film producer, and memoirist who lived in London for most of her adult life. She was also a journalist, television performer, and intelligence agent.

Life and career

Robin Ann Eakin was born in 1920 in Sydney, an only child, and grew up in

Kings Cross, New South Wales Kings Cross is an Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), inner-eastern locality of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately 2 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney. ...

. Her father was a doctor whose clientele included elements of the Sydney underworld as well as more respectable members of society.Text Publishing
Retrieved 7 December 2018Former spy Robin Dalton: "I feel sorry for young women today. There's very little romance", Elizabeth Grice, ''The Telegraph'', 14 May 2016
Retrieved 7 December 2018 She was frequently in the social pages of Sydney newspapers in her late teens.Helen Trinca, "Author, literary agent, filmmaker Robin Dalton has lived life to full", ''Weekend Australian'', 20-21 May 2017
Retrieved 7 December 2018 A 1940 marriage to a barrister named John Spencer did not last more than a few months, as he divorced her on the grounds of adultery. In 1946, she flew to London. While in Australia she had met

David Mountbatten, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven Lieutenant David Michael Mountbatten, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven, (12 May 1919 – 14 April 1970), styled Viscount Alderney before 1921 and Earl of Medina between 1921 and 1938, was the son of George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Have ...

Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...

's cousin and best man at his wedding to Princess Elizabeth, and in London their affair continued, but they were prevented from marrying by her status as a divorcee,Jane Wheatley, "How Sydney socialite and film producer Robin Dalton stole the headlines from WWII", ''Sydney Morning Herald'', 3 March 2017
Retrieved 7 December 2018 although he married divorcee Romaine Simpson in 1950. She entered high society and met numerous international celebrities, which led to her doing espionage work for the Thai Government. She then met an Irish doctor named Emmet Dalton, whom she married in 1953. They had two children, Lisa and Seamus, but Emmet died suddenly at age 33 during heart surgery. In 1963 she started a life with

William Fairchild William Fairchild (sometimes credited as W. E. C. Fairchild) (January 6, 1918 – May 9, 2000) was an English author, playwright, director and screenwriter. He was married to actress Isabel Dean from 1953 to the early 1970s, and to producer, age ...

, who became her third husband in 1992 and died in 2000. Robin Dalton became a literary agent, acting for writers such as

Joan Collins Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Awards, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primetime Emm ...

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Iris Murdoch Dame Jean Iris Murdoch ( ; 15 July 1919 – 8 February 1999) was an Irish and British novelist and philosopher. Murdoch is best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. Her fi ...

Edna O'Brien Josephine Edna O'Brien (15 December 1930 – 27 July 2024) was an Irish novelist, memoirist, playwright, poet and short-story writer. O'Brien's works often revolve around the inner feelings of women and their problems relating to men and soc ...

Sonia Orwell Sonia Mary Brownell (25 August 1918 – 11 December 1980), better known as Sonia Orwell, was the second wife of writer George Orwell. Sonia is believed to be the model for Julia, the heroine of ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''. Sonia worked with the I ...

John Osborne John James Osborne (12 December 1929 – 24 December 1994) was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor, and entrepreneur, who is regarded as one of the most influential figures in post-war theatre. Born in London, he briefly worked as a jo ...

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (; 7 May 19273 April 2013) was a British and American novelist and screenwriter. She is best known for her collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, made up of film director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant. ...

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Ben Travers Ben Travers (12 November 188618 December 1980) was an English writer. His output includes more than 20 plays, 30 screenplays, 5 novels, and 3 volumes of memoirs. He is most notable for his long-running series of farces first staged in the 19 ...

Arnold Wesker Sir Arnold Wesker (24 May 1932 – 12 April 2016) was an English dramatist. He was the author of 50 plays, four volumes of short stories, two volumes of essays, much journalism and a book on the subject, a children's book, some poetry, and ot ...

and

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three ...

; and film makers such as

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud made up a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the m ...

Louis Malle Louis Marie Malle (; 30 October 1932 – 23 November 1995) was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. Described as "eclectic" and "a filmmaker difficult to pin down", Malle made document ...

and

Peter Weir Peter Lindsay Weir ( ; born 21 August 1944) is a retired Australian film director. He is known for directing films crossing various genres over forty years with films such as '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (1975), '' Gallipoli'' (1981), '' The Y ...

. She sold her agency, Robin Dalton Associates, to American businessman

Marvin Josephson Marvin Josephson (March 6, 1927 – May 17, 2022) was an American talent agent and founder of International Creative Management, later renamed ICM Partners. Early life and education Josephson was born and raised in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and ...

International Famous Agency Ashley-Famous was a talent agency started in 1945 by talent agent Ted Ashley. The agency was responsible for many hit television shows and had several famous clients. It changed names and ownership a few times, eventually becoming one of the age ...

, in 1971. She produced such films as '' Emma's War'' (1987), ''

Madame Sousatzka ''Madame Sousatzka'' is a 1988 drama film directed by John Schlesinger, with a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. It is based upon the 1962 novel of the same name by Bernice Rubens. __TOC__ Plot Indian immigrant Sushila Sen (Shabana Azmi) ...

'' (1988), '' Country Life'' (1994) and ''

Oscar and Lucinda ''Oscar and Lucinda'' is a novel by Australian author Peter Carey. It won the 1988 Booker Prize the year it was released, and the 1989 Miles Franklin Award. It was shortlisted in 2008 for The Best of the Booker, in celebration of the prize's ...

'' (1997).

Honours

She was appointed a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AM) in 2013, "for significant service to the film industry as a producer, literary agent and author, and as a mentor to emerging actors and writers".It's an Honour
Retrieved 7 December 2018

Bibliography

Memoirs

* ''Aunts Up the Cross'' (1965) * ''An Incidental Memoir'' (1998) * ''One Leg Over'' (2017)

Fiction

* ''My Relations'' (written at age 8, published in 2015, aged 94)

References

Notes

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dalton, Robin 1920 births 2022 deaths Australian expatriates in the United Kingdom Literary agents Australian film producers Australian memoirists Members of the Order of Australia People from Sydney Australian women centenarians Australian women memoirists